The Top Notes included singers Howard "Howie" Guyton (also known as Guy Howard), a cousin of Dave "Baby" Cortez; and Derek Martin, also known as Derek Ray.[3] Guyton provided the lead vocals on "Twist and Shout".[4] Guyton, Martin and Cortez had previously all been members of vocal groups the Pearls (also known as the Five Pearls) in their home city of Detroit, and then of the Sheiks in New York;[3] and Guyton and Martin later recorded as members of Jimmy Ricks & the Raves. Derek Martin later recorded a succession of singles, mostly on the Roulette label, in the 1960s and early 1970s, including a version of Otis Blackwell's "Daddy Rollin' Stone", before moving to live in France where he has continued to perform.[5][6][7] Guyton later sang in a touring version of the Platters, and died of a heart attack in 1977, aged 39, while touring in Argentina.[8][9]

Songwriter Bert Berns felt Spector had ruined the song, and went out to show Spector how it should be done.[10]

When the Isley Brothers decided to record the song in 1962, Bert Berns (who also used the name Bert Russell) opted to produce, and thus demonstrate to Spector what he had intended to be the "sound" of the record.[10] The resulting recording captured the verve of an Isley Brothers performance, and became the trio's first record to reach a Top 20 position in the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.

The Isley Brothers' version, with Ronald Isley on lead vocals, was the first major hit recording of the song, peaking at No. 17 on the U.S. pop top 40 charts, and No. 2 on the US R&B charts. The song quickly became a frequently covered R&B tune in the early 1960s. According to Ronald, the song was supposed to be the B-side to the Burt Bacharach standard, "Make It Easy on Yourself", which had been a hit for Jerry Butler. When the Isleys recorded "Twist and Shout", the brothers did not think the song would do well, as they had not had a hit in the three years since "Shout" established them. To their surprise, it became their first Top 40 hit on both the pop and R&B charts, and for a time established the group's reputation for producing fast-paced songs during their earlier career.

Released on the Beatles' first UK album, Please Please Me (1963), the complete recording of which on February 11, 1963, was their first album session and is notable for 10 songs recorded in a mere 13 hours. Loosely based on the Isley Brothers version, "Twist and Shout", with John Lennon on lead vocals, was the last song recorded; producer George Martin knew Lennon's voice would suffer from the performance, so he left it until last, with only 15 minutes of scheduled recording time remaining.

Lennon was suffering from a cold, and was drinking milk and sucking on cough drops to soothe his throat. His coughing is audible on the album, as is the cold's effect on his voice. Even so, he produced a memorable vocal performance: a raucous, dynamic rocker. He later said his voice was not the same for a long time afterward, and that "every time [he] swallowed, it felt like sandpaper".[11]

A second take was attempted, but Lennon had nothing left and it was abandoned.[12] George Martin said, "I did try a second take ... but John's voice had gone."[13]

Released as a single in the US on March 2, 1964, with "There's a Place" as its B-side,[14] by Chicago-based Vee-Jay Records on the Tollie label, it reached number 2 on April 4, 1964, during the week that the top five places on the chart were all Beatles singles (in the Cashbox singles chart for the same week, "Twist and Shout" was No. 1). In the United States, "Twist and Shout" was the only million-selling Beatles single that was a cover record, and the only Beatles cover single to reach the Top 10 on a national record chart. The song failed to hit #1 because the Beatles had another song occupying the top spot, "Can't Buy Me Love".

It is regarded as one of the finest examples of British rock and roll for its vocal performance.[15] The song was used as a rousing closing number on Sunday Night at the London Palladium in October 1963 and at The Royal Variety Show in November 1963, the former signalling the start of "Beatlemania"; the latter was included on the Anthology 1 compilation album in 1995. In addition, the group performed it on one of their Ed Sullivan Show appearances in February 1964.

The Beatles continued to play the song live until the end of their August 1965 tour of North America. Additionally, they recorded "Twist and Shout" on nine occasions for BBC television and radio broadcasts, the earliest of which was for the Talent Spot radio show on November 27, 1962. The intro sounds very similar to "La Bamba" by Ritchie Valens, and the famous vocal buildup resembles that in "Do You Love Me" by the Contours.

In November 2010, 47 years after its recording, the Beatles' version of "Twist and Shout" made a debut on the UK Singles Chart. The highest charting Beatles track in the aftermath of their new availability on iTunes, it entered the charts at #48 in the first of a two-week run.

English rock band the Who covered the song live during their career, with Roger Daltrey singing lead vocals on the first version which is on the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970, and on their 1982 Farewell Tour,[28] with their bassist John Entwistle singing the lead vocals. The 1982 version can be heard on the live album Who's Last (recorded at the Richfield Coliseum on December 14, 1982 and released in November 1984), Live From Toronto (recorded at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto on December 17, 1982 and released in 2006), as well as on the 1994 compilation Thirty Years of Maximum R&B (recorded at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto on December 16, 1982, misdated in the liner notes for the concert at Toronto's CNE stadium on October 9, 1982).

In 1962 the Deccalabel signed Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, a British group from Dagenham, East London, in preference to the Beatles. Both groups auditioned on the same day, and it has become legend that the Beatles were rejected by the label. Ironically, Brian Poole and the Tremeloes had no chart success until the beat boom in British rock surfaced, following the success of the Beatles. This triggered the frenzied signing of most of the popular Liverpool rock groups of that period by the major record labels, and their distinctive "sound" became known as Merseybeat. Brian Poole and the Tremeloes imitated this style, and covered "Twist and Shout" four months after the Beatles had released their version, and achieved the number four position in the UK Singles Chart.[29]

In 1988, Crvena Jabuka recorded a Serbo-Croatian version on their album Sanjati called Sviđa mi se ova stvar (I like this thing).

In 1993, Chaka Demus & Pliers recorded a reggae version featuring Jack Radics and Taxi Gang, which went to number one on the UK Singles Chart on 2 January 1994 and also reached number two in New Zealand.